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Dr Karl Toriola, chief executive officer, MTN Nigeria, has assured its subscribers that another telecom tariff increase is not imminent.
He also clarified his recent comments on unlimited mobile data, saying they were taken out of context.
Toriola who spoke during an interview on TVC’s Beyond the Headlines, said his remarks at MTN’s Data on Trial public engagement were intended to explain the technical limitations of mobile networks rather than suggest that consumers could never access unlimited data.
According to him, excerpts of his comments circulated online did not reflect the full context of the discussion.
“People took snippets of the conversation, and the entirety of the conversation is available on YouTube. There’s nothing to be hidden there, and they took it slightly out of context”.
Toriola explained that mobile networks are constrained by finite spectrum resources, making unrestricted data usage technically impossible without affecting the quality of service for other subscribers.
“Mobile wireless technology to offer data is limited by one factor—spectrum—and spectrum is a finite resource. You cannot put an excessive load of data traffic onto a mobile network without having a degradation of the quality of service for other people”.
He added that while many telecom operators market data plans as unlimited, such packages are generally governed by fair usage policies, under which internet speeds are reduced after subscribers exceed specified usage thresholds.
Toriola said MTN is working towards introducing similar products but noted that they would also be subject to fair usage limits to protect network quality.
Addressing concerns over rapid data depletion, the MTN chief executive said operators do not deliberately consume customers’ data, attributing much of the usage to background activities such as automatic cloud backups on applications including WhatsApp, Google Cloud and iCloud.
“A significant amount of data that’s consumed on your handsets is done without your realisation”.
He advised subscribers to review their device settings and configure cloud backups to run only over Wi-Fi or at less frequent intervals.
To illustrate the point, Toriola said an audit of the phone of one of MTN’s chief officers, who had complained about unusually high data usage, revealed that WhatsApp was automatically backing up about 120 gigabytes of data.
On telecom pricing, Toriola said another tariff increase is not expected in the near term, although future reviews would depend on prevailing economic conditions and the cost of sustaining network operations.
“The increment is not imminent. But over time, depending on economic conditions, there might be possible tariff increases”.
He maintained that the tariff adjustment implemented in 2025 was necessary to ensure the sustainability of the telecommunications industry after more than a decade without a price review despite rising operating costs.
Toriola also disclosed that MTN invested ₦390 billion in capital expenditure during the first quarter of the year, exceeding its ₦359 billion profit after tax for the same period.
He identified fibre cuts, vandalism, unreliable electricity supply and restricted access to telecom infrastructure as major factors affecting service quality.
“We have more fibre cuts in a day than the whole Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has in a year”.
Responding to calls for sanctions against MTN over recurring xenophobic incidents in South Africa, Toriola said MTN Nigeria is a Nigerian company in ownership and operations, noting that it is listed on the Nigerian Exchange, has only four expatriates in its workforce and has millions of Nigerian shareholders through direct investments and pension funds.
“We unequivocally condemn any form of xenophobia, any form of violence, any form of attacks against any community in the world,” he said.
